Connections

On my 18th birthday, April 25th, 2009, I was given a book by my sister-in-law with an inscription that read, "There will come a day when you need to find a connection. When that day comes, read this book." It was only months before I was to begin college in my hometown and many of my friends would leave. My focus was on having fun with these people before college began and they all scattered. This being the case, I simply tucked the book away and had not thought about it.
Many things have occurred between now and then, from major switches, friendship losses, lonely days, depression, anxieties, a roller coaster of emotions. Through all these tough times, this book never once occurred to me, until recently. I stumbled upon it one night in my room, opened it up and read the inscription. I immediately knew that mean it was time to read the book.
I carried the book in my bag for a week reading it during any free period until I finished it today. One day at work I randomly decided to strike up a conversation with a co-worker that I had not spoken to much. I pulled the book out and asked if she had read it before. To my surprise she said, "You are not going to believe this, but my friend gave me it to read just last week. I have not been able to get into it." With chills coming over my body, I explained the inscription to her and the significance.
She later told me that she picked the book back up and began to really enjoy it. She too felt it was her time to read the book, why else would I have decided to randomly strike up a conversation with her about the book. There must be some connection and something she would take away from that book.

Some inspirational quotes from the book:

• He went about his dull routine as if all the days in the world were still to come.
• Heaven can be found in the most unlikely corners.
• This is the greatest gift God can give you: to understand what happened in your life. To have it explained. It is the peace you have been searching for.
• each affects the other and the other affects the next, and the world is full of stories, but the stories are all one.